Ferdowsi

Spent more than thirty years writing the epic Shahnameh and is revered as the guardian of the New Persian language.

Life

Son of a Dehqan

Ferdowsi was born c. 940 near Tus in Khorasan into a landowning (dehqan) family. The dehqan class preserved a wealth of history and legend from Sasanian times, and the Samanid Empire promoted New Persian literature, which gave fertile ground to his work. In c. 977, after another poet, Daqiqi, was killed, he took up the task and began turning the stories of ancient Iran's kings into a long poem.

Shahnameh

The Shahnameh, about 50,000 couplets, begins with the first king of myth, passes through the age of the legendary hero Rostam, and runs to the killing of the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III. Drawing on Sasanian prose chronicles and oral tradition, the poet deliberately used few Arabic loanwords, shaping Iranians' collective memory of their own history. The work was completed c. 1010 and dedicated to Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni.

Legend and Legacy

According to a later story, Mahmud's reward fell far short of what he had promised, and the disappointed poet left and wrote a satirical poem; when the sultan, regretting it, sent a rich reward, Ferdowsi's coffin was just being carried out of the city gate. The story is hard to verify. He died c. 1020 and was buried in Tus; in the 20th century the Iranian government rebuilt his mausoleum.

Legacy

Iranians regard Ferdowsi as their national poet. The Shahnameh preserves the myths, legends and historical memory of pre-Islamic Iran and is written in a relatively pure Persian, which had an enormous influence on the survival and standardization of the Persian language and also deeply influenced the miniature painting and storytelling arts of the Persianate world. The stories of his quarrel with Sultan Mahmud are largely later legend, and scholars interpret his religious stance and motives for writing in different ways.

Major works & achievements

• Shahnameh, about 50,000 couplets
• Preserves ancient Iranian myths and heroic legends
• Set the standard for New Persian literature

Did you know? Iran marks the 25th of Ordibehesht, the second month of the Iranian calendar (c. May 15), as Ferdowsi Day.

Key dates

• 940Born in Tus c. this year
• 977Began writing the Shahnameh c. this year
• 1010Shahnameh completed
• 1020Died c. this year